Some call ‘Stavern’ “the dimple of the coast”, and it’s not to hard to agree on this point. Stavern has been a settlement, a harbour, a mooring site since the beginning of time. And all the time the city has been called ‘Stavern’, with the possible exeptionfrom 1799 – 1930 when it was called ‘Fredriksvern’ – the same as the orlog station in the same place.Dette bildet er tatt på innfartsåren til Stavern ca 1 km utenfor byen.
This picture has been taken less than a mile outside the city.

Just across the hill I passed a fashonable home called ‘Hergisheim’ and which stands out amont the rest due to its bright blue tiles on the roof. This used to be the home of the Norwegian poet Herman Wildenvey (1885 – 1959), but since it was practically impossible to stop the car without creating an incident, I have to rely on other sources just this time. (Not my picture)

It is something that reminds you of the southern parts of Norway here in Stavern and the first side street of som importance bring you down to the sea and – Stavern MarinaDen har økt i størrelse siden sist vi besøkte stedet, og det er vel egentlig ikke så rart –
It has increased in size since last time I visited the place, and I guess that is to be expected ?

From Risøya north of the city I look towards the north. In the bottom of the Larviksfjord lies the city of Larvik. Up to 1988 Stavern was a community of its own, but in 1988 it was included into the community of Larvik together with ‘Hedrum’, ‘Brunlanes’ and ‘Tjølling’.
Today Stavern has ‘city-status’ and out here about 6000 people live on a daily basis.

Svenner Lighthouse needs its own photo report. Much larger then shown in my picture and with a natural harbour where it’s possible to survive even in a full blown storm. Beds might be rented in the lighthouse! But you need a boat to take you there!Det er sommer og blomster har prioritet !
It’s summer and the flowers have priority!

This is a picture from the ‘guest harbour’. Here boating tourists may get a shower, or they may have a warm lunch in the sun before returning to blue blue sea. It’s just now in the very beginning of the season one may lie alongside the pier. Usually you have to await turn to dock.Dette er stedet der sjøredningstjenesten holder til!
This is where the Sea Recue Service keep their vesselsDette skal være et solur i larvikitt, en lokal steinsort fra dette området. Jeg skljønte ikke helt hvordan dette fungerte, men ble fortalt at på toppen av steinen var det et fotavtrykk. Og plasserte man egne føtter der, så ville man kaste en skygge som kunne leses av for tid på dagen.

This is supposed to be a ‘solar clock’. I didn’t quite understand its function, but was later told that on the top of the stone there were a foot imprint. Placing your feet on the imprint your body would cast a shadow that would indicate the time of day. Cool!Hotell Wassilioff ligger sentralt plassert i Stavern. Tvers over veien ligger en vakker liten park.
Hotel Wassilioff en centrally located in Stavern. Just across the street a small but nice park.Det blåste friskt den dagen jeg besøkte Stavern, men ved å tviholde på en liten kvist fikk jeg et nærbilde av blomstene –

It was a rather windy day when I visited Stavern, but by holding on to a twig for dear life, I was able to secure a close-upMen – hvis vi gikk rundt hotellet så fant vi en liten høyde. Her poserte sjøhelten ‘Tordenskiold’ med sine kanoner.

But – if we moved around the hotel, we found a small hill overlooking Stavern. And here the sea hero ‘Tordenskiold’ were posing with his guns –Fra dette stedet hadde man et fantastisk overblikk over Stavern og alt som rørte seg i skjærgården utenfor.
From this place there was a fantastic view of Stavern and everything that moved around in the archipelago outside.

Looking a bit to the southeast we may (through zoom optics) move over to Stavern Island and to the Citadell Island which was heavily fortified under Ulrich Frederik Gyldenøve stsarting in 1675 and finishing in 1689. Then solid fortifications had been completed and bwtween islands there were artificial breakers securing a safe andf well protected harbour.
Here Tordenskiold were lying with his ships when he wasn’t patrolling the seas.The fortifications on the Citadell Island controlled the south as well as the northern inlet to Stavern.

A panorama view that show Stavern Marina (in the back) and Fredriksvern with itrs yellow boat sheds along the sea. These buildings are today used in a military/historic setting. It’s a small paradox that it’s the Air Force that has been using Fredriksvern through the last years and not the navy. Also the coast artillery has been practicing in the area in a training area outside the coast called ‘Rakkebåene’.Symbolsk fant jeg plutselig denne: Et 5 tonns tungt tysk antiluftskyts med rekkevidde på 10 000 meter. Denne kanonen kunne skyte granater på 9 kilo med en skuddtakt på 26 skudd pr minutt og tyskerne hadde tusenvis av dem!

Symbolic I found this: A 5 ton german anti air gun from WW II with a range of 10 000 yards. It could shoot 18 lb grenades in a tempo of 26 grenades per minute, and the germens had thousands of them.Overalt fant jeg små spaserveier, strender, blomster osv.
Everywhere I found small tracks for walking, small beaches, flowers etc.En liten minnesten over falne fra den II verdenskrig
A small memorial from WW IIOg minner fra krigen som nok aldri vil bli helt utvisket –
And memories from the war that will never quite be forgottenSom denne pyramiden ytterst i skjærgården : Et minne om alle sjømenn som mistet sine liv gjenom krigen.

Like this pyramide utmost in the archipelago: A memory of all the sailors that lost their lives during WW II

TGhe so called ‘blokk houses’ are special to Stavern and were built as a part of the fortifications around Stavern. Originally they were three, but today only two remain.
Also there were long palisades down to the sea, but these are also gone today.
Please observe the extended top which made it possible to shoot straight down if attacked.Byparken!
The city parkStavern Kirke er et lite klenodium! Landets første garnisonskirke og innviet i 1756!Stavern church is special! The first garrison church in the country and inaugurated in 1756. The garrison commander at the time was himself responsible for the progress.Gatebilde fra Stavern.
Street view from StavernEn kopp kaffe på Skipperstua er ikke av veien etter en varm dag . . .
A cup of coffe at ‘Skipperstua’ is not a bad idea after a long day in the sun!Noen gatebilder for at dere skal få et inntrykk av denne søvnige lille byen på grensen til Sørlandet –
A few street pictures to let you get an impression of this sleepy little city on the boarderline to ‘Southern Norway’.Og etter å ha inspisert byens musikkpaviljong i parken, forlater vi Stavern for denne gang. Jeg håper at dere alle fikk lyst til å reise på besøk dit?

After having inspected the music pavillion in the park, it’s time to leave Stavern for this time. I hope you all felt like visiting this place?
(Compliments of SRB )

27 Responses to Larvik – Stavern **

I was lucky enough to visit Stavern during a trip to Norway last fall. Seeing your pictures bring back so many lovely memories! Thank you for sharing them and allowing people to see what a gem Stavern (and this whole area of Norway) really is!

I’m very happy that you got to see the place for yourself! Then you know my pictures don’t lie?! 🙂
But – could you please tell me where you found the link to this report at this time? This particular photo report is nearly 4 years old by now, but I’m delighted that somebody
feel it’s time to bring it back into focus. (Who? )

I see! (Thank you) Then this wouldn’t be the link I’m after 🙂 , but you see, there has suddenly been an exeptional rise in traffic on this particular report the last two days. I was only curious to why . . .?

Thank you, Elisabeth!
It’s nice to know where your friends are! 🙂 And it inspires us to make even more photo reports from the area. But with the new rules on Facebook, it has really become increasingly difficult to use this body marketing
our different photo reports and we aree becoming more dependant of the good-will from local papers and groups like ‘Stavern by – hele året’. Thanks for your information!

Wow, what a lovely journey through the city. I almost feel as though I was there. A real joy to me as my grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Nesbo (near Bergen) and I’ve never been able to visit there to meet our kinfolk.

Hi Rob,
You are one of those people we want to find! That’s the reason why we are creating this blog: There are approximately 5 million Americans with a Norwegian heritage and with the same urge as you have to see where your grandparents really came from. We would appreciate any help to obtain a link to our site from the electronic pages of newspapers catering to that segment of American/Norwegian readers.
If you check our INDEX, you’ll find other photo reports including several panorama shots from Bergen.
Try this: https://seenorway.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/bergen-panorama/

Stavern (& Norway) look amazing in your 60 photos!! I don’t ever think I’ve seen so many beautiful photos in one post. I often put in 35-40 and I think that’s a lot! Thanks for giving us an overview of a pretty little town in Norway. You’re right, I’m missing something by not coming there to visit. I need to spend a lot more time in Europe. Because I’ve lived and worked in Korea and the Gulf, I have traveled close to “home.” But Europe is really where I set my sights. 🙂

Hi, Catbird –
I hope you catch this on the rebound? 🙂 And I was wondering where the flag of Oman came from this morning? (Thank you! )
But, – I hope you looked a bit more around than only the last post? If you liked my pictures, there are approximately 1500 others photos in here along with a dozen others from other contributors that would like to show you Norway. Perhaps it is a good idea to open my 'INDEX'. All direct links to your left (GOTO)
Enjoy!

Hi Catbird,
Hope I catch you before you leave, and thanks again for ‘Oman’. Now I have only one missing from the Arabian peninsula: Yemen!
Unfortunately there’s always gonna be some white spots in my map since in some countries there are restrictions on the use of Internet.
But I’m at least passing 90 🙂 The next 50 are gonna be extremely tough to get. Have a safe yourney home!

Hi Ian,
You’d better check again. I encountered serious problems this time and was unfortunate enough to press ‘publish’ way too soon. Now it’s finished, however, including 60 images! I don’t know how many were there when you popped in?

For some reason I had a LOT of problems publishing this one, and in the stress I was unfortunate enough to press publish instead of ‘preserve draft’. Then everybody came in too early 🙂 But now it’s finished with 60 pictures. I don’t know how many you saw? Take another look!